The first two items in this product are chicken meal and turkey meal. Poultry meals are considered meat concentrates and contain nearly 300% more protein than fresh poultry.

The third ingredient is oatmeal, a whole-grain product made from coarsely ground oats. Oatmeal is naturally rich in B-vitamins, dietary fiber and is also (unlike many other grains) gluten-free.

The fourth ingredient is pearled barley. Barley is a starchy carbohydrate supplying fiber and other healthy nutrients. The term “pearled” means the grain has been processed to remove its outer hull and bran, unlike whole barley.

The fifth ingredient is brown rice, a complex carbohydrate that (once cooked) can be fairly easy to digest. However, aside from its natural energy content, rice is of only modest nutritional value to a dog.

The sixth ingredient lists barley again. Unlike grains with a higher glycemic index, barley can help support more stable blood sugar levels. However, aside from its energy content, this cereal grain is of only modest nutritional value to a dog.

The eighth ingredient is chicken fat. Chicken fat is obtained from rendering chicken, a process similar to making soup in which the fat itself is skimmed from the surface of the liquid.

Chicken fat is high in linoleic acid, an omega-6 fatty acid essential for life. Although it doesn’t sound very appetizing, chicken fat is actually a quality ingredient.

From here, the list goes on to include a number of other items.

But to be realistic, ingredients located this far down the list (other than nutritional supplements) are not likely to affect the overall rating of this product.

With four notable exceptions…

First, salmon oil is naturally rich in the prized EPA and DHA type of omega-3 fatty acids. These two high quality fats boast the highest bio-availability to dogs and humans.

Depending on its level of freshness and purity, salmon oil should be considered a commendable addition.

Next, although alfalfa meal is high in plant protein (about 18%) and fiber (25%), this hay-family item is more commonly associated with horse feeds.

In addition, we note the inclusion of dried fermentation products in this recipe. Fermentation products are typically added to provide enzymes to aid the animal with digestion.

And lastly, this food contains chelated minerals… minerals that have been chemically attached to protein. This makes them easier to absorb. Chelated minerals are usually found in better dog foods.

Please note certain recipes are sometimes given a higher or lower rating based upon our estimate of their total meat content.

A Final Word

The descriptions and analyses expressed in this and every article on this website represent the views and opinions of the author.

The Dog Food Advisor does not test dog food products.

We rely almost entirely on the integrity of the information posted by each company on its website. As such, the accuracy of every review is directly dependent upon the quality of the test results from any specific batch of food a company chooses to publish.

Although it's our goal to ensure all the information on this website is correct, we cannot guarantee its completeness or its accuracy; nor can we commit to ensuring all the material is kept up-to-date on a daily basis.

Each review is offered in good faith and has been designed to help you make a more informed decision when buying dog food.

However, due to the biological uniqueness of every animal, none of our ratings are intended to suggest feeding a particular product will result in a specific dietary response or health benefit for your pet.

Recent shelter rescue 2mos. old pup has firm stools and no side effects. Eats it happily. For the price, it’s all good for us!

MaineSusan

TY for the reply… I am going to give the Victor Grain Free a try… it looks pretty good, 5star and I can get it online from Amazon.

sbrown79

My dogs were on this food (adult formula) for several years and it was great (regionally they stopped selling it at my local store). It has received 4.5 stars and states “Judging by its ingredients alone, Whole Earth Farms looks like an above-average dry dog food.” I would give it a shot!

Crazy4cats

Have you tried any of the Victor formulas? My dogs tend to have loose stools and do well with grain free Victor.

MaineSusan

I was thinking of switching from Native Level III, to this but not sounding too good reading the comments??? Gus’ stools are a little loose n I have tried everything I can think of… perhaps the protein levels are too high… maybe I will just drop down to Level II.

I have a 3 month old mix shorkie amd shitzu would this be a good fit for h?

Brigette

That’s VERY disturbing! Ugh! Wow. I used to feed the WEF grain free dry but then switched to Merrick’s grain free for better ingredients. I do still feed the WEF grain free wet, though. Did you contact Merrick about the worms? (I assume Merrick is still over WEF?) This is crazy!

Dianna Kelleher

It’s probably a good food for your puppy, but I fed my lab a large breed puppy formula in the beginning just to be on the safe side with the extra vitamins. I’m not sure how much truth there is to it, but when researching foods I found numerous times that large breed was recommended because it didn’t give the puppies too much calcium in their daily diet which could contribute to quicker growth and joint problems. Now that she’s an adult I’m looking at other large breed dog formulas that are hopefully more natural.

Kathy Wooten

Purchased a bag of this dog food today and opened it up and it had worms in it. The worker at Petco said this was not the first bag with worms inside. GROSS.

Mary Lin

My sister lost her dog like that. She did not pay attention until too late to find out. please take care your dog.

theBCnut

An 8 yr old dog that has always had regular seasons needs to be checked by a vet. This could be a sign of a uterine infection, and they can be life threatening.

tap

8 years old

theBCnut

How old is your female. Has she been having regular seasons for a while? Some dogs don’t do the typical every 6 months. Dripping blood should not have to do with the food, but there are some cases where it could.

tap

been reading some bad thing on the comments for the grain fee dry food of whole earth farms

have noticed on this food i normally add water and the food puffs up but on this new bag the food dissolves mushy and the color is lighter.

my female started to drip blood, she isnt fixed but she shouldn’t be coming into heat in for another 2 months

i dont know if it has anything to do with the food.

Kimberly Blanford Huskey

research raw meaty bones diet for canines. The liver and kidneys are filter organs for the body. if the diet has contaminants that tax the kidneys and/or liver your
dogs health is going to suffer. Canine digestive system is not designed to process cooked food. All kibble and canned dog food is COOKED. Not at all what mother nature intended.

Natalie Marie Alvarez Padilla

Any update on this? I have a 4 month old lab/pit bull mix. I’ve been feeding him whole earth farms puppy recipe, dry mixed with canned for 2 months now (I started mixing in the canned for more nutrition 1 month ago). He’s only a puppy once and I want to make sure I start him off right, with the best possible nutrition.

Natalie Marie Alvarez Padilla

It would be nice to see an analisys of the puppy formula since they are different formulas, and I will be feeding my dog puppy food until he is a year old.

Danielle

I would suggest cranberry. Maybe a little pre cranberry juice waters down to help your dig pee a little more frequently and help deter the bills up of crystals. Of course plenty of fresh water.
As for the change in pH, I am not sure. I don’t recognize anything on the ingredients list that would cause that. Have you noticed a change in their drinking / peeing behaviours? Does it seems like they are drinking more / less or urinating more frequently or less frequently. I had a similar issue with my cat and I increased the amount of water I put down and started to change it more frequently throughput the day to make sure it was the freshest possible AND I started giving him filtered water b/c the water in our area had a high mineral content. That and some food swapping and cranberry spritzing on his food and the crystals went away and his pH came down.

Shawna

The website for Duramune states the vaccine should be given annually for adult dogs. No mention of boostering adult dogs?

“Annual Revaccination

Labeled for revaccination in annual protocols to support routine patient care

*Initial vaccination series with Duramune Lyme® should be administered to puppies. Dogs should then receive required annual boosters.” http://www.duramunelyme.com/

Our vets often HIGHLY recommend vaccines that simply aren’t necessary. For example, some pets can have life long immunity from just one vaccine (given after mom’s immunity is no longer protecting). This applies to core vaccines (adeno, distemper and parvo). Many of us chose to titer test our pets versus vaccinate. Titering checks the blood to confirm the antibodies are still present. If they are, the vaccine is absolutely unnecessary and worse is worthless as they do not actually “boost” anything.. There’s TONS of info on the subject written by vets like the one Labs linked to…

LabsRawesome

Hi I posted this info for you last week, not sure if you saw it as you did not respond. I would not get a second (never would have gotten the first) Lymes vacc.. I too live in a wooded area and spend a lot of time in the woods as well. These vaccinations are very detrimental to our dogs immune system, My vet recommends the Lymes vacc as well, I just say, no thank you. My vet also recommends Heartguard which I do not use either. I just wanted you to have more info on vaccs, that I know your vet will never give you. http://drjeandoddspethealthresource.tumblr.com/post/31497486463/dogvaccines